FRANKLIN, Ind. — New information has led to Johnson County Judge Cynthia Emkes to recuse herself from a case involving a suspected act of domestic terrorism. Investigators have learned Christopher Bryne, 31, had the judge’s home address in his cell phone as a google maps search. It had been entered into the phone just days before the initial incident.
Bryne was arrested in August 2016, after police found him in the parking lot of the Greenwood Park Mall with weapons, ammunition and the materials to assemble a “bleach bomb.” During the arrest Bryne told officers he was a “sovereign national” and refused to provide identification.
Judge Emkes has requested a change of venue from Johnson County for the sentencing phase of the case.
Byrne has list of recent serious charges. In August 2015 he was convicted of theft when stolen police equipment was found in his Indianapolis apartment. One of the items recovered in that case was a Colt AR-15 that was stolen from a Greenwood police vehicle in October 2014.
